Introduction to Patent & Conditions for patentability
Patent is a kind of intellectual property. It is given for an invention. Patent is actually an exclusive right that is being granted over an invention. Patent is a right given to a person who invents something new by applying his skills and labor.
Objectives of providing patent
- This encourages new inventions in every field which helps in boosting the economy of the nation.
- The inventor gets motivated with the rewards he gets and make his invention accessible to public which is useful from them.
- This encourages an inventor to show its invention in public rather than keeping it a secret.
- It provides a protection to the investor that they have a right over their intellectual property and can sue someone who infringes it.
Section 2(m) of the Patents Act,1970 said that patent means any patent that has been granted for any invention under this act.
Now section 2(l) of the patents Act defines that the new invention is any invention or technology which has not been published in any document in any country before the date of filing of patent. That is the subject matter is not in public domain.
Conditions of patentability
From the definition we can now conclude about the essential conditions of patent. The essential conditions for patent are:
1.Novelty: An invention in a patent should be new or novel. It must have not been in publish anywhere. It is not in public domain in any country. In the case of Bishwanath Prasad Radhey Shyam v. Hindustan Metal Industries (1979) the court held that the most important criteria which is to be looked to grant a patent is the novelty and newness.
In the case of Gopal Glass Works Ltd. v. Assistant Controller of Patents (2005), an invention must be new and original to be patented. And new and original both conditions have to be satisfied only novelty will not work.
2. Non-obviousness or inventive step:
An invention must be non-obvious. It means that it should have some invented step involved. Section 2(j) of the Act defines an invention. An invention includes a product or process which is made by an inventive step and is able to be in the industrial application.
It must be non-obvious it means it must not be known to any person skilled. The case of Bishwanath Prasad Radhey Shyam v. Hindustan Metal Industries (1979) lays down the four tests of obviousness. These are:
- The person obtaining patent must be able to differentiate between the subject matter and invention.
- The person obtaining patent must be able to identify the inventive step, prior use, subject matter.
- The consideration must be given to differences.
- The patented product must involve a degree of invention.
3. Utility of patents:
The invention on the basis of which patent is asked must have some usefulness. There must be an industrial application of such invention.
In the case of Cipla Ltd. v. F Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. (2015) the court held that besides the two conditions that is novelty and non-obviousness the invention must be useful.
